Reminiscences
Reminiscences of Sargachhi SRIMAT SWAMI SUHITANANDA JI
(Continued from previous issue. . .)
61
June 2021
28.2.61
The Vedanta Kesari
14
Maharaj: In 1909 I went to see Holy Mother at the Udbodhan House. Satyakam Maharaj was there. Hearing that I come from Sylhet, he said, “Once I went to Sylhet to do relief work.”
I sat down in the room where Sharat Maharaj was seated. Vaikuntha Sanyal was sitting beside Sharat Maharaj. He started enquiring about my name, where I came from, and other such things. From the manner in which I replied, he probably guessed something, and so asked, “Are you an Assami?” (In Bengali a person belonging to Assam is called an ‘asami’, which also means ‘accused’). Hence, Sharat Maharaj retorted, “Why should he be an ‘asami’ (accused)?” After that I had the darshan of Mother – I didn’t see her face, it was covered with a veil. I don’t remember whether I touched her feet or not. Later I got prasad also. Mother used to cover herself with a veil at Udbodhan. At Jayrambati she usually would be without a veil. Sri Ramakrishna used to address Rajani, a prostitute, as “Mother”. She even used to feed him grams and beans. One day she went to Udbodhan, and started peeping into the house from outside, as she dared not enter inside. Happening to see her, Holy Mother took her hand and brought her inside, saying, “Sri Ramakrishna called you ‘Mother’.”
Question: When somebody gets the experience of Brahman, does he become inert?
Maharaj: One who experiences Brahman can never say what Brahman is. Others get to know from him only what Brahman is not. Suppose someone has realised Brahman. Another person asks him, “Do you become nonexistent at that time?” The man who has perceived Brahman says, “No.” Again, he is asked, “In that case, do you exist?” The perceiver of Brahman doesn’t respond to this. Then it is presumed that in that state, Sat, or Existence, remains. But wood and stone also exist. Is the perceiver’s existence at that time like that of wood and stone? Does there remain any awareness? The knower of Brahman says, “No, not like wood and stone.” Then it is assumed that Chit, or Awareness, remains. But awareness remains even when one cannot sleep at night; that state is one of considerable suffering. The perceiver of Brahman says, “No, there is absolute bliss, supreme bliss.” When someone gets a taste of that bliss, nothing else can attract him or her. This is what is called SatChit-Ananda 3.3.61
Question: Did spirituality manifest itself in the other incarnations to the extent that it did in Sri Ramakrishna?
The author, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order, presents here his conversations with Swami Premeshananda (1884-1967), a disciple of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi.
